In a case of a MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) as a single apparatus which is provided with functions such as a scanner, a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile, it is necessary to memorize various types of data, such as scan data which is obtained by scanning, print data (print data before RIP (Raster Image Processor)) which is transmitted from an external device or image data as rasterized bit map data (print data after RIP), on a job basis.
Therefore, hard disks (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) have been installed in image forming apparatuses as a non-volatile storing device for storing large volumes of image data.
It should be noted that, since a plurality of functions exists in such an image forming system, there are the cases in which two accesses or more to an identical storage device conflict with each other. For such a conflicting state, a technique has been disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-097364 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) in which access to a file with a lower priority is executed in parallel while giving a higher priority to access to a file with a higher priority.
In the technique of parallel execution of conflicting access, disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, there exists a problem in that sufficient performance cannot be achieved in a case of file access with a lower priority.
It should be noted that, in the case of an image forming system in which an image forming apparatus which consists of a control section and a HDD, and a controller which consists of a control section and a HDD, are used cooperatively, the control sections and the HDDs may be combined to form an image forming apparatus by unifying the image forming apparatus and the controller.
In this case, in a case in which scan data, which has been scanned by a scanner, is stored in the HDD at the time of accessing to the HDD to pea form image expansion of print data from an external PC, access to the HDD may conflict in the unified image forming apparatus, when compared with conventional cases in which each of the HDD in the controller and in the image forming apparatus can be accessed.
Consequently, although the technique disclosed in the above-described Patent Document 1 may be applied, the performance may be degraded in either processing. Therefore, as a result of a delay in the processing due to the degradation of performance, influence of the delay may affect the entire subsequent processing.